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Sam Joined: 18 Feb 2006 Posts: 47 |
Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2006 6:11 am Post subject: Published Knowledge |
Published Knowledge I have seen that a number of people come to this web site looking for answers to questions about basic Brahma Kumari (BK) Knowledge (Gyan). I think that they should continue to visit this site and to ask questions, because it is only here that they will find unbiased, or at least differently biased, answers to their questions. However, I have seen one or two posts on this site which ask why the Brahma Kumaris themselves do not openly publish their “knowledge”. In fact they do publish it openly. You just have to know where to look. You do not even have to go in to a BK center, it is all on the internet and in books. It is the Murlis that they are secretive about, I will come back to those at the end of this post. The easiest place to find the course is on the Brahma Kumaris Indian web site. All the knowledge taught in the centers is on that site under the same headings as it is taught in the BK course at any center worldwide. i.e. World Cycle, Tree of Humanity, etc. This is the address for that site – http://www.brahmakumaris.org/ The same classes are also published on the PBK web site in their beginners (for non-BKs) section. There is a link to the PBK web site on the links page of this site. In book form there are two online book stores. The first one is on the main site. Again, there is a link to that site on the links page of this site. The prices are in dollars, but the shop is not the best. The best shop is at this web address – http://www.bkpublications.com/ The prices are in pounds sterling but that is no problem. You can pay by credit card. The prices are very reasonable. The trick is to know which books to get. For the basic Knowledge course and brief description of the BK lifestyle and history try these recommendations – 1 New Beginnings. No author is credited but I believe it is written by brother Ken. It gives the course in everyday language. 2 In the Light of Meditation. Book including CD Author : Mike George. Similar to the above but with a meditation CD enclosed. 3 Adi Dev. Author Brahma Kumaris. A history of the Brahma Kumaris including all the “knowledge” towards the end. If you are happy to go in to a center then there is a “Hindi – English Glossary” by BK Peter from London that is still on sale in bigger centers. If not then they can get it for you from the shop in Pound Lane in London, England. Maybe Pound Lane will mail it to you if you ask them. It is like the BK dictionary on this site but much bigger and more comprehensive. However, the BK dictionary on this site is good because it gives a non orthodox explanation sometimes. There have also been several versions of a correspondence course published. This was all the eight lessons written in individual booklets, then in one complete softback book, then in several small pamphlet versions. I do not know if these are still available, but you can ask. The whole course was also published in “Retreat” magazine by the Brahma Kumaris. Again I do not know if these back issues are still available, but you can try. Now to the Murlis. There are two types. Sakar murlis are the teachings that Brahma Baba, aka Dada Lekraj, the founder of the BKs, spoke while he was alive. The BKs are very precious about these and you would probably have to take the course and go to morning classes to hear one. In my opinion they are pretty boring and very Indian in bias, but they do contain all the knowledge, if you can bear to listen to all the repetition and telling off for being bad. The PBKs say they have all the original sakar murlis before they were edited by the BKs. The PBKs say they should be openly published and that they will pass them on to anyone who is interested. However, they only have them in Hindi, so if you do not know Hindi or have access to a translator then they will not be of much use to you. Then there are the avyakt murlis which are those spoken through the trance medium Dadi Gulzar, aka Kumarka. The BKs are more open with these and they are much more interesting and up to date, also less patronising and gloomy than the sakar murlis. If you are on reasonably friendly terms with the BKs in a center they may be willing to show you these murlis, but they do not contain much of the traditional knowledge as such. I hope this is helpful and will be happy for any more contributions or suggestions. I hope to eventually compile a list of sources of information that are non BK in their origin. The first of these that has been suggested to me is – Peace and Purity : The Story of the Brahma Kumaris, A Spiritual Revolution by Liz Hodgkinson and Brahma Kumaris. I am also looking for sources that take an objective or critical view of the BKs. But that may be a post or section of its own, like the BK dictionary that is on this site.
bluewing Joined: 24 Feb 2006 Posts: 21 |
Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2006 9:08 am Post subject: BKs..PBKs.. |
Hi, Sam, Nice post, helpful...I have 1 question, maybe this is not the right place(topic): about the PBKs, since when they have been around? I was in 'gyan' in 1983 and on and off for many years and never heard of such group, I know they are in Delhi, right? Are they friends with BKs at all? If anyone could tell me ....Tks.. Bluewing
Tete Joined: 26 Jan 2005 Posts: 169 |
Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2006 11:11 am Post subject: Brahma Kumaris BOOK STORE/Published knowledge for SALE! |
Sam,
Quote:
Peace and Purity : The Story of the Brahma Kumaris, A Spiritual Revolution by Liz Hodgkinson and Brahma Kumaris.
Peace and Purity is a Brahma Kumaris book. I only bought it because there wasn't any thing out there critical of BKs and so I thought OK let's see what they are selling. Also, Liz Hodgkinson wrote many things including some on pro-celibacy and has not written on how it didn't work in the long run. He now lives in a center and she left and they are now divorces. That would be interesting reading. See the link below as it doesn’t mention any of the current state of affairs and therefore is miss leading once again. http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/dp5/hodgkin.htm Some books for sale in the BK book store includes one by Rob S. who left the BKs over a decade ago. This however isn't disclosed. I wouldn't want to miss lead any one looking for help and ending up buying BK books to re-enforce the teachings. I am in agreement with Bluewing that perhaps we need to put this some where else. Also the thread of Published Knowledge perhaps should be changed to Brahma Kumaris Published Knowledge for Sale. I will leave it to the wisdom of the Admin as to where this goes. Regards, Tete
Joel Joined: 09 Nov 2004 Posts: 102 |
Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2006 1:27 pm Post subject: Re: Brahma Kumaris BOOK STORE/Published knowledge for SALE! |
Tete wrote:
Also, Liz Hodgkinson wrote many things including some on pro-celibacy and has not written on how it didn't work in the long run. He now lives in a center and she left and they are now divorces.
I never met Liz, but Neville is a nice enough guy who was a science writer for a major Fleet Street newspaper. He is intelligent and pleasant, although has gotten on the wrong side of a couple of major issues. A few years ago he wrote a big article for a major newspaper on how he he thinks there is a abundant evidence that AIDS is not caused by a virus HIV. He was championing the views of the researcher-turned-crank Peter Duesberg who rejects the viral hypothesis, blaming immune suppressing factors such as drug use. Well, I guess he hadn't heard of FIV, the feline immunodeficiency virus, which has also been identified, now ravaging world cat population, including, sadly, an endangered species of wild cat in Japan. As for BK books, I think most of us on this board know where to find them. Brings me to embarrassing memories of when I was still dressed in white, offering the day's murli to ex-BK visitors who were there for some quiet and friendship, probably even with me, if I had been more open. Well I was more open for the last year of two of my time in white, blessing with my friendship and good wishes a couple from my center that married then moved to the country to grow organic vegetables. He had spent most of his adult life in an auto factory, so it's been a great life change for him. She had been married before, very expressive and communicative, told me about how much she had enjoyed caring for her then father-in-law as he passed the last months of his life at home. Now that is a toxic notion to me, and no amount of respect for the organization's history or present achievement can make it better: BKs are taught that personal friendships are attachments, a bondage that traps the soul in connections of this world and limits spiritual progress. (And your "lokik" families are also attachments, demons pulling you back to the old world, although Baba says you have to serve them by giving them "knowledge' and bringing them to Baba.) My friendships as a BK, took the form of mutual respect, where we liked each other, but didn't speak about personal issues, both of us following BK guidelines. Friendships are an attachment! The classic BK story of attachment and how Baba conveyed his disapproval of close friendship, is of two women who were living with Brahma Baba and the rest of the group. These two were always together, knew everything about each other, shared the same room even. Baba told one of the two he was sending her for service. The other assumed that she would be going, too, and packed all her things in the same suitcase. Now it comes time to leave. Goodbyes in Madhuban are always long drawn out affairs. There is lots of gear to load, sari-clad women rushing back and forth on their last errands, down to the toli kitchen to get sweets to give to people back home, and some savory crunchies to fill the belly on the way back, now a few minutes in Baba's room, with its silent white curtains, red light, Brahma Baba trancelight and curious enclosed smell. Now to the office to get some important papers from Shashi-behen. Everyone is loitering around the courtyard after getting up from their afternoon naps. Plenty of time for hugs... oops, maybe we didn't or weren't supposed to hug. Final affectionate words. Nirwair waving his hanky mournfully (not gaily!) at the departing vehicle. Well, back in the days of this story, these two sisters (n.b. unrelated by blood) are coming out to get a taxi or donkey cart (if that was what they used in those days). Seeing them Brahma Baba tells the second one, "i'm not sending you, just her!" Shock! Now the taxi is about to leave, but all their clothes are mixed together in the one suitcase. So you can picture the more attached sister, who was staying behind. She is in tears, and the two are shamed by having to open the suitcase and scatter their clothes all around as they figure out whose is which. Dr. Nirmala told us this story in Madhuban. We all laughed at the foolishness of this attached woman, and how she was embarrassed in front of everyone. For me, as ex-BK, I can sympathize with all who enjoyed the atmosphere of the center, who like the BKs as people, but get fed up by being offered knowledge--here chew on the glass of knowledge, the sand of knowledge, the jewels of knowledge, (am I going to say this??) the razor blades of knowledge--while friendship, what is most desperately needed and sought, apparently so readily available to these wise, joyous personalities, is withheld, only a few drops of tainted water. The tantalizing promise of more, if I can just accommodate myself to these expectations on my behavior that will earn my seniors' love and respect. To conclude, I think many ex-BK difficulties (and BK difficulties, too) are not immediately with the knowledge but with a family system that by withholding love to elicit conformity, incorporates an element of the toxic. Damaging the person by devaluing and then denying their ability to make decisions for themself. "You can decide for yourself--go ahead choose!--but then don't expect you will get any love from us." A damaging double-bind, having to choose between love of newly cathected "spiritual" family (available by suppressing/damaging the self) or choosing to respect the self and be injured by withdrawal of family love. That, everyone, is my BK spiritual knowledge, at least one facet. Of course, one needn't join the BKs to find toxic relationships. That is a point, too. But BK indoctrination can be especially harmful by the way it separates vulnerable people from the love and support of their families.
John Joined: 26 Sep 2005 Posts: 157 Location: UK |
Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2006 1:47 pm Post subject: |
In answer to Bluewings question. PBKs were first revealed in 1976, though virenda dev diksit actually started in 1969 as a BK months after Brahma left his corporeal body. They have centres throughout India. The PBK advanced course is based on indepth realisations of the original pictures of trimurti,cycle, ladder, kalpa tree, lakshmi Narayan first revealed by the BKs.
howiemac Joined: 18 May 2005 Posts: 142 Location: Scotland |
Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 4:30 pm Post subject: Re: Friendships are an attachment |
Joel wrote:
I think many ex-BK difficulties (and BK difficulties, too) are not immediately with the knowledge but with a family system that by withholding love to elicit conformity, incorporates an element of the toxic. Damaging the person by devaluing and then denying their ability to make decisions for themself.
Nice story Joel, and you tell them so well. As you indicate - where is the love? If stamping on friendship and companionship, and denying personal responsibility, is suitable behaviour for those who claim they will be running heaven, then i for one don't want to be there!
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